The present invention relates to centrifugal separators and in particular, to devices that remove particles or other constituents by radially impelling the particles or other constituents out of a contaminated stream of fluid.
A known centrifugal scrubber employs a cylindrical housing having a tangential inlet port into which a contaminated stream is injected. Because of the manner of injection, the stream flows helically through the housing before exiting from an outlet port. These scrubbers typically spray into the stream a scrubbing liquor to facilitate removal of pollutants from the stream. Dynamic wet scrubbers are also known and these devices employ a fan-like device into which is injected a contaminated fluid stream together with a spray of scrubbing liquor.
Also known in the art are separators which employ nested conical frustrums which are spun as a stream of contaminated air flows between them. These nested structures are perforated to allow particles, droplets, and other effluents adhering to their surface to pass outwardly and be captured in a surrounding housing.
A disadvantage of the foregoing devices is a significant pressure drop occurring across the unit. Also many of these devices fail to control the vortex to reduce energy-consuming turbulence. In addition, known devices drive captured particles or other pollutants in the same direction as the incoming stream of contaminated fluid, thereby increasing the likelihood of re-entrainment. Further, they do not remove all or substantially all the particles or other pollutants from the contaminated stream.
Therefore, there is a need for a relatively simple and efficient device for separating particles or other pollutants, including particles down to sub-micron size, from a contaminated stream of fluid without risking re-entrainment of removed pollutants.